Pruning and cutting implements are used extensively in orchards and vineyards for pruning and shaping vegetation both before and during the growing season. Pruning implements are often large, awkward tools having dangerously sharp and pointed blades for cutting through thick vegetation. For example, lopping shears, which are frequently used to prune grapevines, have a pair of sharp blades that curve upwardly to form a point. The blades are attached by a pivot to a pair of elongated handles. Laborers must carry these large, awkward shears with them throughout the vineyard. In fact, laborers often sling these shears over one shoulder in order to carry them. However, the sharp, pointed blades of the shears pose a potential danger to the laborer when carried in this manner or by hand. Laborers cannot even carry the lopping shears in conventional tool holders because the tool holders are not equipped to accommodate such implements. These conventional tool holders are merely carrying and storage devices for tools like hammers and hatchets, which have a single elongated handle and a transversely mounted head piece. These devices generally comprise a tool carrying loop or collar attached to a leather pad suspended from a waist belt. In some cases, the tool carrying loop or collar is hinged or mechanical for facilitating quick storage and release of the hammer. Examples of such devices can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,790,461; 4,106,679; and 4,372,468. The tool carrying loops and collars of these conventional tool holders cannot safely carry and support cutting and pruning implements, such as lopping shears, which have a dangerously sharp and pointed headpiece pivotally attached to a pair of elongated handles. They do not provide the laborer with any means of protection from the sharp and pointed headpiece of the cutting or pruning implement, nor do they provide the laborer with any means of readily securing an implement which has more than a single shaft for a handle.
In addition to lopping shears, laborers often carry small hand-held pruners for trimming vegetation. It is awkward for the laborer to carry both the lopping shears and the small pruners by hand. The laborer will often leave one implement on the ground while using the other to prune. Consequently, the laborer may step on that implement or leave it behind. Therefore, a tool holder is required that can accommodate simultaneously both a large pruning implement and a small hand-held pruning implement.
The present invention provides a tool holder that may be adapted to suspend from a waist belt and that is used for carrying a large cutting or pruning implement, such as a pair of lopping shears, in such a manner as to secure the implement within the tool holder and protect the wearer from injuring himself or herself with the sharp and pointed headpiece of the implement. In addition, a pouch may be attached to the tool holder of the present invention for carrying additional small hand-held cutting or pruning implements.